Book #102 was 16 Lighthouse Road, the first book in Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove series. The back of the book reads:

Olivia Lockhart
16 Lighthouse Road
Cedar Cove, Washington

Dear Reader,

You don’t know me yet, but in a few hours that’s going to change. You see, I’m inviting you to my home and my town of Cedar Cove because I want you to meet my family, friends, and neighbors. Come and hear their stories — maybe even their secrets!

I have to admit that my own secrets are pretty open. My marriage failed some years ago, and I have a rather . . . difficult relationship with my daughter, Justine. Then there’s my mother, Charlotte, who has plenty of opinions and is always willing to share them.

Here’s an example: I’m a family court judge and she likes to drop in on my courtroom. Recently I was hearing a divorce petition. In Charlotte’s view, young Cecilia and Ian Randall hadn’t tried hard enough to make their marriage work — and I agreed. So I rendered my judgment: Divorce Denied.

Well, you wouldn’t believe the reaction! Thanks to an article by Jack Griffin, the editor of our local paper (and a man I wouldn’t mind seeing more of!), everyone’s talking.

Cedar Cove — people love it and sometimes they leave it, but they never forget it!

See you soon . . .

- Olivia

I enjoy this series, because they’re like little soap operas in book form. Nothing heavy here, and nothing vulgar (not that I have a problem with vulgarity). I like how a different character is the focus of each book, but they’re all there nonetheless.

Page count: 377 | Approximate word count: 73,251

2006 – A Death in Vienna (Daniel Silva)

Book #6 was Between Friends by Debbie Macomber. Back of the book reads:

Debbie Macomber tells the story of a remarkable friendship — and tells it in a remarkable way. Between Friends is a story in which every woman will recognize herself . . . and her best friend.

The friendship between Jillian Lawton and Lesley Adamski begins in the postwar era of the 1950s. As they grow up, their circumstances, their choices — and their mistakes — take them invirtually opposite directions. Lesley gets pregnant and marries young, living a cramped life defined by the demands of small children, not enough money, an unfaithful husband. Jillian lives those years on a college campus shaken by the Vietnam War and then as an idealistic young lawyer in New York City.

Over the years and across the miles, through marriage, children, divorce and widowhood, Jillian and Lesley remain close, sharing every grief and every joy. There are no secrets between friends . . .

Whoever wrote the blurb on the back was right.. I did recognize myself and my best friend in this book. She was the one that married right after high school and started her family soon after. I was the one who went off to college. My friend and I aren’t as close as Lesley and Jillian, but those familiar feelings were still there. I really liked the addition of newspaper clippings and bumper stickers and such to the letters. Macomber did an excellent job conveying the feeling of each year as our lives are affected by current events. It really made me think of how many important events my parent’s generation has lived through, and how many I have yet to.

Page count: 416 | Approximate word count: 100,000 | Filed in:

Book #87 was 44 Cranberry Point, the 4th book in Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Grove series. The back of the book reads:

Peggy Beldon
Thyme and Tide B and B
44 Cranberry Point
Cedar Grove, Washington

Dear Reader,

I love living in Cedar grove, but things haven’t been the same since a man did in our B and B. Turns out his name was Max Russell, and Bob had known him briefly in Vietnam. We still don’t have any idea why he came here and — most important of all — who killed him. Because he now appears that he was poisoned. I sure hope somebody figures it out soon!

Not that we’re providing the only news in Cedar Cove these days. I heard that Jon Bowman and Maryellen Sherman are getting married. And Maryellen’s mom, Grace, has more than her share of interested men! The question is: Which one is she going to choose? Olivia — I guess it’s Olivia Griffin now — is back from her honeymoon, and her mother, Charlotte (who’s in her mid-seventies at least), seems to have a man in her life, too. I’m not so sure Olivia’s too pleased. . . .

There’s lots of other gossip I could tell you. Come by for a cup of tea and one of my blueberry muffins and we’ll talk.

Peggy

This was pretty good, but a little confusing. Basically, it’s a soap opera in novel form. And, like most soap operas, it can sometimes be hard to keep track of who everyone is and how they’re related to each other. And I hate referring to guides or glossaries — I’m not going to keep flipping back and forth to see who such-and-such is. So, I just wing it. I guess I didn’t get confused *too* much. Not so much that I won’t read the other books in the series. It was entertaining! Lord knows I don’t get to watch soaps anymore, so it was a nice fix!

Book count: 87
Pages in book: 377
Page count: 37,346
Words in book: 101,790
Word count: 11,154,711

1,000,000 words surpassed — 2/2/06
2,000,000 words surpassed — 2/14/06
10,000 pages surpassed — 3/10/06
3,000,000 words surpassed — 3/16/06
4,000,000 words surpassed — 4/3/06
5,000,000 words surpassed — 5/30/06
50 books surpassed — 6/12/06
20,000 pages surpassed — 6/29/06
6,000,000 words surpassed — 6/29/06
7,000,000 words surpassed — 7/21/06
8,000,000 words surpassed — 8/18/06
30,000 pages surpassed — 9/3/06
9,000,000 words surpassed — 9/6/06

10,000,000 words surpassed — 9/27/06
11,000,000 words surpassed — 10/9/06